Club 296 Shooting Cuts Teen Life Short

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Less than a month after closing the notorious Plush Club nightspot, Memphis Police and the Shelby County Attorney's Office might soon draw a bead on a new target after a weekend shooting death of a teenager outside a downtown club.

Club 296 might have been anonymous in the past but now it seems to be drawing attention for all the wrong reasons.

As a member of the Booker T. Washington girls' basketball squad Adrian Cobb, no doubt learned a lot about working together to build a team. But, last weekend even a crowd of hundreds couldn't protect Adrian from the horror of stray bullets outside a place she'd gone to have fun.

A non-descript exterior has helped to conceal the downtown building's anonymity for years. But, just steps from the front door of what is now Club 296 on Monroe, a cluster of stuffed toys wrapped to a telephone pole silently screams out the anguish of yet another young life tragically cut short in Memphis last Saturday night.

"I heard pop, pop, pop and I went running away from the window," said Johnathan Portnoy who lives near Club 296.

"I know it was a high school kids' party. These kids weren't but 16-years old. Their parents were dropping them off and now a little girl dies," said James Balarus.

With one suspect in custody, Memphis Police homicide detectives continue their investigation into the weekend shooting death of 18-year old former Booker T. Washington girls' basketball player, Adrian Cobb.

Cobb's body was found face down in the middle of the street after a fight that began inside the club spilled outside. A witness told police an individual involved in the fight produced a gun and began shooting into the crowd apparently striking Cobb. Police are also looking into a tip that a local gang might be responsible for the eruption of violence.

"Everybody ran. They ran all over the street. It's like ants scattered," said Balarus.

Sources, who did not want to be identified, told Fox 13 News, the underage club, which in the past has served as a music recording studio, has been hosting "foam parties" such as depicted in this video, where patrons engulf themselves in shooting streams of bubbles.

Although no one in the neighborhood, which is less than half a block from the upscale Fielder Square Apartments, could tell us exactly when Club 296 began the underage events.

One resident of the area said he sensed trouble even before the club opened its doors Saturday.

"I didn't see any adult supervision at all and the place that they were attending wasn't even open yet and I saw at least three or four parents pull up and drop kids off," said Lavell Hill. "There was probably about, at least 100, 150 kids gathered together out here and it just didn't look like a good situation to start from."

The shooting incident isn't the first time police have visited the club's location.

"About two weeks ago, I was woken up in the middle of the night. There were about 15 to 20 cop cars out here on the street; cops on bikes. Just sitting outside of this door trying to get in," said Hill.

Friends say Adrian Cobb had planned to attend Tennessee State this fall. But, instead only stuffed animals mark where the sun rose and then set on another young life cut short in Memphis.